NYPD Cop Researched Long Island Lolita Case While Plotting Murder-For-Hire, Prosecutors Say

An NYPD cop accused of trying to arrange for a hitman to kill her estranged husband and her boyfriend’s minor daughter allegedly researched the Amy Fisher case while planning their murders.

Valerie Cincinelli, a 35-year-old officer who has been with the department for 12 years, was charged last month with orchestrating the murder-for-hire plot. Prosecutors claim that Cincinelli paid $7,000 to someone who was actually a police informant in order to have her former partner and her boyfriend’s 15-year-old daughter killed. Now, new court documents allege that she did research on a somewhat similar case while coming up with her sinister plan.

Weeks before she was collared in May, Cincinelli allegedly searched for the name “amy buttafuco” online, the New York Post reports, citing court documents filed by prosecutors Friday in response to Cincinelli’s bail request.

The search term, they suggested, refers to Amy Fisher, the woman who, as a teen, famously shot her adult lover’s wife, Mary Jo Buttafuoco, in the face out of jealousy. The case catapulted Fisher, who ultimately served seven years in prison for the act, into pop culture history in the early '90s and earned her the nickname “Long Island Lolita.”

Between April 12 and 16, Cincinelli also allegedly googled “dominic barbara,” who was the lawyer for Joey Buttafuoco, Fisher’s lover, during the trial, according to the Post.

Prosecutors brought Cincinelli’s search history to light in response to her applications for bail, claiming that it proves her “dangerousness” and intent to harm her intended victims, the outlet reports.

Prosecutors claim that Cincinelli’s search history and text messages also shed light on her motive for seeking a hit on her estranged husband and boyfriend’s daughter, Newsday reports. In text messages prosecutors claim she sent to her boyfriend, John DiRubba, Cincinelli complained about him paying for his daughter’s “Sephora make up,” “fake nails every week,” and expensive bags and shoes.

Cincinelli allegedly believed that her boyfriend would spend the $100,000 he was due to get from an upcoming real estate deal on the girl, prosecutors said.

“Yea well I feel threatened you have a relationship…in Jersey behind my back,” she allegedly wrote to her partner, referencing his daughter.

In addition to problems with her boyfriend, Cincinelli reportedly had a quietly contentious relationship with her estranged husband, and is also accused of having been unwilling to share her police pension with him, according to the Post. Court filings claim that she said in a text on April 16 that she was “really pissed off w this pension sh–t,” and on that same day searched multiple times online for the phrase “if your ex dies do you get your whole pension,” the paper reports.

Cincinelli’s plan ultimately failed when she gave her boyfriend money to hire a hitman and he instead went to police. DiRubba wore a wire to help gather evidence against Cincinelli while her estranged husband, Isaiah Carvalho, worked with police to stage his own death. Cincinelli was arrested soon after, and pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Her lawyer argued on Monday that the texts prosecutors made public do not show that she was angry at DiRubba’s daughter.

“All these texts reflect Ms. Cincinelli’s frustration with her belief that her boyfriend, who admits in texts, taking money from her,” her lawyer, James Kousouros, said.

A judge will make a final bail decision regarding Cincinelli after a psychiatric report is completed and after reviewing audio recordings, video footage, and phone records related to the case, Newsday reports.